David Richards Healed of a Broken Back

David Richards was crushed by a 2 cwt stone while working in a coal pit. A doctor declared he could not recover and advised wrapping him in a sheet to die, noting he had a lump on his back as big as a child's head and a broken backbone. Elder Phillips anointed him and commanded the bones in the name of Jesus; the bones audibly came together, and Richards immediately regained his strength, later walking miles to testify of the event.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

Abercanaid, Sept. 23, 1850. Dear President Richards,—I feel it my duty to write to you, to bear my testimony to the power of God, as manifested in my behalf. On the 2nd of September, I was working in a coal-pit, and by the falling of a stone, weighing about two cwt., I was crushed to the earth. I was taken home, and a surgeon was sent for, who, after examining me, said that my back-bone was broken, and that I could not recover. He said that there was a lump on my back as large as a child's head. He told my wife to wrap me in a sheet, and that I would soon die. Elder Wm. Phillips, and Elders Morgan Mills, John Thomas, and Rees, and Henry Evans, came to see me. Elder Phillips called to see me, and attended to the ordinance of the Church for the sick, and while commanding the bones in the name of Jesus, they came together, making a noise like the crushing of an old basket; my strength returned, and now I am able to go some miles to bear my testimony to this great miracle. The doctor called to see me and was astonished, and said in the hearing of witnesses that my backbone was broken; but that it now was whole, and that I was now recovering as well as any man he ever saw. I am, your brother in the Gospel, David Richards.